#artsy leif

[leifstump]

pichu~

[glitchi-art]

This is Larry

Larry is a wasp

Larry has an IQ of a cinder block

I love Larry

[artsywriter25]

I...I saw something.

=

I really love Leif and that vision scene was chilling but amazing. Wanted to give the drawing an old film look and added the dead flying leaves. I may end up drawing Leif more, I really like her. 

[skelezomperman]

Pick a lady, and do her hair really nicely. Remember, failure means consequences!

Ethlyn - she wants a good tiara hair for a state banquet. Failure means you will need to be Altena and Leif's governor for three days as Leonster's image as a whole is at stake if you fail.

Edain - she is probably the easiest to please. She wants a presentable, modest look but you have to make it fitting for a noblewoman. Failure means you will need to tutor Tirnanog kids for a whole day... in mathematics for siege machine purposes.

Ayra - she doesn't want her hair to inconvenience her. She's usually fine with her hair let loose as it is, so you'll need to convince her that you'll make it better. Failure means you will need to take care of Shannan for a full day.

Deirdre - she wants something that would fit her as Lady Chalphy, practically wow-ing Sigurd. While you don't have to worry about wow-ing Sigurd considering he's head over heels for her, create a style that she can rock without feeling shy or out of place; a style that is truly hers. Failure means you'll need to do baby Seliph's laundry for the whole week because you may risk tanking her confidence.

Lachesis - she will tell you what she wants because she is very sure of what she wants. However she will also ask you what you think of her choices and plan, and she'll appreciate it if you won't just nod and yes-Ma'am her. Failure means you'll need to be a good host for the night because there's no way she's partying until drop like it's year 7XX when Elliot is in attendance. Sommelier skill is needed too.

Sylvia - she wants your creativity. She's a dancer, so she will want everything to be artsy. Her success is in your hands. She'll agree to everything you plan but you will need to make it good. Failure means paying her rent that month.

Fury - she is worried nothing will look good on her. Of course you don't believe that, do you? She wants something cute yet practical... and perhaps you'll need to convince her that she can rock that style rather than spending more time to style that for her. Failure means feeding/cleaning her pegasus for the day.

Tailtiu - like Sylvia, she wants you to be creative, but still utilizes her red scrunchie... ribbon.. scrubbon or whatever that is called again. Think of dressing an idol for a debut concert. Failure means you will need to speak to her dad and brother delivering her words.

Brigid - she wants no nonsense, no hindrance; you will need to do a good, tight braiding for her hair. If she thinks it's loose that it hinders her fighting, then tough luck -- you will need to clean the deck of her (pirate) ship, and make arrows for her.

If I'm being honest, I will fail at all of these, so I will choose Edain because tutoring six children on math is something that I can realistically do. But if I thought I had a real chance of succeeding...I think I'd go with Fury. She seems fun to work with but not demanding, and we're not going with something too simple like what Edain would want.

[sireneia-a]

                      @fensariru / sc.

   “ Um... ” Leonster's prince sits there awkwardly on the ground, clutter of papers on the floor seeming to trap him in a circle. There are jars of paint nearby him as well as a cloth and small basin of water. His hands are covered in smears of red paint, some of it having gotten onto his left cheek and his forehead. The papers around him are in varying degrees of completion, bright colors stained against them seemingly without any clear image depicted in any of them.

Leif stares at Sharena who stands in the doorway to the room for what feels like an eternity before he just finishes it with, “ I can explain. ”

[cintanna-stuff]

This was sent to my other blog @cintanna​ but I prefer to answer here and keep that blog only for my artsy stuff //

I’m not sure how he’ll react, I hope they’ll give us at least a little interaction because that’s why I chose Leiftan as my ex in Lance’s route 😂 But if I had to guess, maybe Lance could acknowledge a little how Leiftan wasn’t wrong about wanting to protect her during last season “If he was right in something it was in loving you, I can’t blame him for that”. I think he’ll mostly remain relaxed as long as Leif doesn’t bring up the whole “you’re my soulmate” thing like he did in the past. She’s his girlfriend now! 😤

I’d also love to see him teasing Leiftan a little. Give us that cliché “Hehe, I stole your girlfriend” please 😌.

[comicteaparty]

June 20th-June 26th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from June 20th, 2020 to June 26th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What is something you’re just not very good at right now writing and/or drawing in general?

Deo101 [Millennium]

mysteries. 100% I can not write mysteries!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

ears

Deo101 [Millennium]

the connection between legs and torso. No not hips, I can draw hips fine, but like the movement aspect of it

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Action scenes. Orchestrating fights or big motions on the page... it doesn’t come naturally to me! I have to look at a lot of reference to see how other artists do it. Impact shapes, speed lines, anything to convey movement...

But I am slowly building a vocabulary of... fight shapes? I’m calling them fight shapes, haha

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I feel that

Your feeling I feel deeply

"visual library" is a term that comes to mind

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Composition. I just talked about this earlier today, but.... yup. Composition is my bane.

Mitzi (Trophallaxis)

I'd like to get better at writing in general. I have a lot of trouble verbalizing things I see in my head, and so I gotta rely on images and thumbnails to get any idea across, sometimes. otherwise im a windbag and use 5000 words to say 0-1 things, lmao

carcarchu

I have trouble writing simply. I always want to embellish, add extra details, more characters and make everything more complicated and i worry it ends up making things unnecessarily convoluted

Drawing-wise i hate drawing hands

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

The legit thing I am worse at writing is fucking

Deo101 [Millennium]

omg

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

essays to convince people to hire me

Deo101 [Millennium]

OH OKAY

WAY TO CUT IT OFF

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

YEAH

Mitzi (Trophallaxis)

OH

carcarchu

let her finish deo

Mitzi (Trophallaxis)

comedic timing at its finest

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

omg

I was very confused for a sec(edited)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

but seriously like speaking of filling gaps this is what I'm legit struggling most with right now so any help much appreciated

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

raises hand

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I need to write a personal statement and every time I sit down to edit I want to die

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I volunteer as tribute

writing is basically the only thing I'm really good at

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

It's not the writing I hate

It's the writing about me

carcarchu

is that the thing where you have to write in 3rd person? like those blurb things on people's websites?(edited)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

It just feel so gross whoring out my deeply held passions and struggles for a spot in med school

No I'm talking about college essays lmao sorry for derailing

The blurb things are an interesting topic though!

Have you guys writtent those before and does anyone actually like writing them?

carcarchu

i had to write a blurb about myself for my university's website and yeah it was uncomfy

lemme see if i can find it

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I HATE writing those

because I just start like, "Crona J. is an artist and writer from Chicago......." And I have no idea how to continue

Deo101 [Millennium]

god yeah even just writing a profile or about me is hard enough!!!

I'm always like "deo - 22 - she/her - illustrator - webcomic author - student" and then i leave it

thats it thats all you get

depending on the platform i MIGHT put bi - disabled and thats it!!!!

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

yeah

half of the stuff I write doesn't even feel relevant to the audience either

who cares that I have been drawing since I was 12 lol?

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Mate I don't even write those. My bio is like "UCSD" "Read my comic"

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

hahaha

Deo101 [Millennium]

I also always feel like when I see "ive been drawing since I was 5!" I kinda think like... well everyone has been -_- like this doesnt tell me anything, how long have you been an aspiring pro, how long have you been studying art...? that tells me more

so I never put that kind of stuff in my biod either

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

yeah, and also, I didn't go to prestigious school, so I don't even include my college

and I only have one comic project so far, just under a chapter

so what do I write?

Not that important an issue, but irksome nonetheless

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I don't include my school because it's prestigious, I include it because it's not an art college

Deo101 [Millennium]

owch

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I want fellow stem-y yet artsy people from my school to recognize me as one of them(edited)

DEO stop interupptung me at the worst points!!

Deo101 [Millennium]

i love jumping to conclusions. so no.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

If it's a bio where I can talk about the comics, I try to spotlight a few tropes/genres that'll catch the eye of potential readers. Not a full-fledged summary, just a quick hit of If You Like These Words, You'll Probably Like Reading It. ("Fantasy, comedy, shapeshifters, PTSD, time travel, cats")

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

And if it's gonna be personal, same deal with bits of personal info -- not trying to be a Comprehensive Biography, just pulling a few details that are relatable connection points

The problem with "I've always wanted to be a writer/artist/cartoonist" isn't just how generic it is, the problem is also the vibe of "here's my thing, your role in this is to support me"

Whereas if you say something like "I like drawing cute girls and writing fantasy," the response can be "oh hey, I like seeing cute girls and reading fantasy, tell me more!"

Or if you go with "Sailor Moon fan, will put extra cheese on everything," people can go "cool, that's relatable, we can like Sailor Moon and cheese together." It gets at your shared investment in a fun thing, it's not about expecting them to be personally invested in you

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think perhaps the most fundamental thing is "you can't please everyone." I've never liked the 'random food related weird tidbit tacked on' thing because it feels too try-hardish to me, but I understand for other people, it's not a matter of trying too hard and is genuinely how they just talk.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

Oh definitely, you hold out for a bio that connects with everyone and you'll never get it done

AntiBunny

Personally I'm not great at drawing cars. It's why all my cars early on in the comic were side view only, and old blocky looking things. It was all I could do. I've been getting better by using references.

Every so often I buy a little hotweels or matchbox car when I'm buying groceries. I aim for realistic ones based on real vehicles, especially utility vehicles like ice cream trucks, ambulances, fire trucks, and whatnot you'd see every day in a city. I keep a little box of them on my desk, so if the scene calls for a car to be visible, I have a reference that can help me get all the curves and angles right.

Sure beats drawing from memory, but also practice time in the sketchbook with them is a necessity.

Now crowd scenes are beginning to be my bane. Not because they're hard to draw, just because they're time consuming.

Suddenly I realize why old episodes of Sailor Moon has cities with people free sidewalks and empty streets.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

That's a great idea, gathering the model cars! I should do that for a future comic.

kayotics

I also struggle with cars so, uh, my comic takes place in fantasy 1700-1800s

But also horses are bad too

Cars and horses! They suck

Deo101 [Millennium]

do what I did and make up an easier animal to draw than a horse ;)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Vehicles in general. Should just put everyone on roller blades and be done with it

Deo101 [Millennium]

I'd lov that tbh

kayotics

I’ve considered making something other than horses......

Deo101 [Millennium]

I highly encourage it, the people love it and also so does my brain

kayotics

Or else lean into them being ugly

Deo101 [Millennium]

heres the trick about horses though they look really weird and as small as you make their legs, when you think "this is way too thin..." youre wrong and their ankles are probably smaller than that

kayotics

The thing that gets me is their faces

Deo101 [Millennium]

... mask

kayotics

Hahaha

I should just make deer the normal mode of transport

Deo101 [Millennium]

that would be really cute tbh

kayotics

I love deer and they’re cute

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Just exaggerate them to the point where it looks like a style choice

Your people already have unrealistic proportions

Why not the horses too

kayotics

That’s how I draw buildings tbh because I hate buildings

Deo101 [Millennium]

I also gave horses dog mouths, maybe do something like that? someone can be like "horses dont look like that?" and as long as youre consistent you can say "they do in this world!!!"

kayotics

Oh god no that’s like a devil creature

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah they look horrible but its fun

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I legit remember saying that to you deo lmao

Deo101 [Millennium]

ive had dog horse for years you didnt give me this

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Not the they look horrible part

kayotics

I’ve already got beasts, I don’t need horses to look WORSE than they did

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Bwah I remember

Time to archive dig(edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

I love dog horse

kayotics

Honestly it’s good but they scare me

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah... maybe instead give them cat mouths

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

https://discordapp.com/channels/472908933045026827/634081658018070549/688589449562423422

wait omg this is the message that led to your first dm to me lmao

Deo101 [Millennium]

is it??? omg i think it is... historical moment

dog horse brings us together

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Another point to convince kay to draw uncanny animals!

Deo101 [Millennium]

what I do to make birds fun to draw is making them sparkly

maybe try that

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

god you're gonna ruin kay's carefully crafted aesthetic

is this your competitiveness showing its face again(edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

they can make it work! why do you doubt their abilities

make this the main mode of transport

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

ah is that how it works in that case i have 10 shitty indie game ideas

make them pls

Deo101 [Millennium]

implying my ideas are shitty??? rude!

kayotics

I have an aesthetic?

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Or if you want to be very efficient, everyone in universe can teleport

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

lmao you have an excellent aesthetic

crona

i do that already

kayotics

Crona.... that’s my comic already!! Haha

Deo101 [Millennium]

kay does also have teleporting to be clear

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

don't underestimate my laziness!

Deo101 [Millennium]

LMAO

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

See

It must be great advice

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh crap you're right kay also does have teleporting

and unrealistic beasts, to be fair

kayotics

Sometimes on the same page

That’s the eyes I draw on the beasts

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Or be even lazier, and make it so that horses and beasts either don't exist or haven't been domesticated in that region. Everyone walks. Their feet hurt, but their calves are glorious.

Deo101 [Millennium]

you get it

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

wait crona and deo also have comics where teleportation could exist

will you join us?

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

lol, yup

Deo101 [Millennium]

nope

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

(nah, I've already drawn horses. They're not so bad if you stare at photos)

sierrabravo (Hans Vogel is Dead)

drawing horses is fun!!

[multiple people are typing]

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

And there will also be hella walking, because the leg game must be strong, otherwise I'm not doing my job

Deo101 [Millennium]

ive decided that millennium is like really in the future but things like time travel, teleportation, warp speed... nope! You can go really fast in a spaceship but like nothin crazy

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

man these planets real close together then

or maybe people just live a really long time ...?

Deo101 [Millennium]

I just do my version of teleporting which is "wow it'll take a week to get there" and then its a week later

dont worry about it

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

nice

Deo101 [Millennium]

its not realistic, but its consistent

🌈ERROR404 🌈

ahhhh horses are really nice to draw imo, if i can get it right lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

I like drawing horses a lot I just never do it tbh

🌈ERROR404 🌈

something needs to fuel my addiction to cowboy culture

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Consistency is key tbh

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I just do my version of teleporting which is "wow it'll take a week to get there" and then its a week later

when my whole comic takes place in like a week lmao

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

if you decide that gravity doesn't exist in your world, as log as you're consistent with it, you're golden

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

in the unlikely event i get tired of drawing my comic i can adopt deo's strat "wow it'll take a week to get to the ending"

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

My comic takes place in about a year (not counting flashbacks which span... uh... a very long time)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

"man sure seems like this conflict will take approximately a week to be resolved" "one week later"

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

hahaha

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

"sure did get resolved"

the end

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

convenient

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i wonder if anyone's done that

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

One Korean series I followed for years did it

and everyone was pissed, as you can imagine

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

lol

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

better than cancellation?

Deo101 [Millennium]

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

what a way to go

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'd honestly have preferred cancellation/ abandonment

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Just have a fan finish it for you at that rate lmao

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

OH that's a good discussion topic. If you got tired of your comic, or life got in the the way of you working on it anymore, how would you end it as quickly as possible?

Deo101 [Millennium]

maybe rephrase that a little

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I would toss it at my little sis, and she would do it for me, no joke

Deo101 [Millennium]

My little sister also would probably take over it for me

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

let's move to general?

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

eyyy!

Deo101 [Millennium]

but also I could just be like "They got an email that john died of old age its over now"

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

MVP sisters!

lol

an email

what a way to end it

eliushi [Keyspace]

For me it’s panels. Past me thought that the four panel structure would make things easy. Nope. It’s limiting how I want to tell the story so... I’m trying to branch out now and looking for other inspirations for panel and layout

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Just change the shape of your panels. It forces you to be creative.

eliushi [Keyspace]

True true! I have those in upcoming updates

But my heart swoons for the page spreads

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

oh yes

They are so gorgeous, but difficult to plan

eliushi [Keyspace]

Initially I was planning on storyboards but now I’m more comfortable with comics I think I’ll be aiming for traditional layouts

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yeah, storyboards are an entirely different beast

Desnik

I'm currently working on clearly portraying character motivation

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I think for me I don't draw animals often and rip have to draw a few for the upcoming pages so I'm just doing my best at this point lol

AntiBunny

Panel arrangement is the heart of comics as an art form. It takes practice, and study to learn how the eye flows from one thing to the next.

And once you have a thorough understanding of the rules you can learn how to carefully break them to produce something truly eye catching.

If I had to say the simplest rule to understanding flow is, if you need arrows to tell you which direction to read, then you're doing something wrong.

DanitheCarutor

This is candy for my self-deprecating mentality. Lol Honestly though. I'm not the best at writing in general, I don't like doing it physically, avoiding it at all cost (outside of dialogue and poorly done bullet points on scrap paper.) so I don't really know if/think I'm particularly good at it. I remember the last time I tried to physically write something was back in high school, I still have it saved on my computer, but it was something else. Too many dialogue scenes and overly detailed descriptions of things and characters. I only made it a little ways before giving up with "You know, this will be easier to just show than describe.". Story and character wise for my current comic, I'm not sure how well it's turning out or how good it will be in the end, my brain defaults my work to mediocre so I tend to be totally blind to what I'm doing right. I know my characters aren't the best for sure since they're all fleshy flaw bags with too many flaws, and I know I could have presented certain scene changes and such better, but that's all I can think of objectively. The art portion is something I at least know I can execute decently, but my color composition is the worst. I'm aware that I need to improve it, and I know what needs to be done, but it's something I can't really accomplish with my comic since I just want to focus on finishing pages. I'll have to make time to draw up some throw-away illustrations to experiment with, which I hope to have a little bit of now that I'm not on a regular update schedule. Also I can't draw vehicles and architecture for the life of me, I've referenced and studied but I still can't wrap my head around it. ALSO extreme angles and perspectives are still things I need work on, like 4-point circular perspective, ground level shots and over the head shots.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

There's a lot of things I want to improve, but something I haven't seen mentioned yet: I would like to get better at deciphering feedback, how to glean useful things from multiple conflicting feedback.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Ooh that's a good one keii

I haven't really had to deal with that before though because all the negative feedback I've gotten is pretty consistent

Can I ask what the conflicting feedback you got is?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Oh gosh, I legit spent a long, long moment trying to figure out where to even start

eliushi [Keyspace]

I really like this approach to feedback

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Yo Eli this is so good

eliushi [Keyspace]

Mary robinette is goals

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

this is spectacular already

wow

eliushi [Keyspace]

Pretty sure a wiser writer passed this onto me I have since used it a lot and it works for me

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

This is so so good Perfectly said about crits in creative fields

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

One example I can think of isn't actually something that was criticized, but showed up a lot in various ways: "this is (supposed to be) an exciting adventure romp centering Danbi" vs "this is an emotional journey story centering Ethan" ... Not a criticism, but two very conflicting interpretations. People who have one interpretation are shocked and confused when I tell them about the other one.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Holy crap, Eli... This is one for the folder of absolute knowledge

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

woah, excellent advice

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

And yeah, that is a really good one. Symptoms are extremely useful, and diagnoses tend to be more useful in a conversation rather than a one-way "here is my diagnosis" thing

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I haven't heard it said before but the explaining eliminating a clean reaction rings so true to me

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Ahhh, this is literally the one document I have needed my entire life

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

also the helping someone tell the story they want

also the stream of consiousness, MAn

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I think I'll save that for my future high schoolers lol

some of the stuff said there is what I've noticed in the last few years critquing in academic settings but its nice to kno!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

People have given me stream of consciousness reactions before and they were the most helpful. Almost all the changes in the story from others' reactions were from stream of consciousness reactions, not intentional critiques

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, one of the most helpful "critique" I ever got was also completely unintentional

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

One of the most useful tips in this guide for me in particular is the "As a writer don't:" section. I struggle with it a lot.

On the note of things we are bad at in the comic-making process, I am very bad at taking critiques!(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

tbh for a long time, my biggest struggling point that's not in the "as a writer don't:" is "don't throw yourself into the void of self-hate." I'm better now, but boy, when it was bad, it was bad.

But perhaps that kinda thing better fits into "as a person don't:"

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I am pretty good at taking critiques, but pretty bad at giving critiques! Right now the point I'm at is I'm just gonna not give critiques until I'm more mature

But then after I decided that an amateur writer friend told me his story idea that I not only disliked but was sort of offended by

and I really wanted to tell him but I didn't know how to do it nicely...

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

ooof

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

oh no

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

yeah, that's really tough

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

rip I tend to do kinda a sandwich method. I had to say some rough things few days ago on a practice pitch run and I pretty much said

Deo101 [Millennium]

Uh oh

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

"Your idea is developing for sure, but I think you need to reconsider some of the world building choices you done. Have you thought of researching such and such."

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

That's basically what I said

But I think I had to say "research ffs" in increasing intensity like 3 times lol

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Oh, nice, the "let's give them compliments too so that they know I'm not just being mean" method

It's a good method tbh

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Rip it's not that like

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Deo might have something to say about this but it was about schizophrenics in a mental institution being portrayed in a real weird way by someone who didn't know anything about it(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Ooof

Deo101 [Millennium]

Ah man

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

ewww

Deo101 [Millennium]

I'll always stand by "asking people who've lived what you're writing about is the best form of research and can't be replaced"

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Yeah I would said the to the person consider researching more on the topic and interview folks who have schizophrenia

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Dude I brought you up lmao

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

and also like "is there a reason you want to depict it this way?"

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

oooh

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah I know I'm agreeing idk... Idk what else I'd have to say on the topic

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

That's a very good question to ask someone

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

and depending on their responses, I would just put my two scents in there that rip

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah I always ask "what are your goals?" Before I ask anything else

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

critiques are kinda my strong point sinc eLMAO I do em all the time in my class

and teaching so yeah LOL

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Deo I mean I brought you up to this guy like saying "my friend messaged people online and they were super willing to talk to her you could do that"

Deo101 [Millennium]

OHHHHH gotcha

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I try my best to figure out what they want out of it and just deliever with some handful of suggestions

but I won't sugarcoat it unless you're a high school student or younger lmao

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah I'm often told I'm a lil too harsh but like idk

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I wouldn't say sugar coating it per say... More just telling them what their strengths are too, so that they have an idea of where they're at

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

telling someone their strengths is just as useful as telling them their flaws

that way they can highlight them

like just because you story has no flaws doesn't mean it's good right?

gotta have stuff that stands out in a good way as well

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Someone once phrased it as "Let's list everything that's wrong here, and find out how we can fix them" vs "How do we take this to the next level?" and that really resonated with me. It's not about sugarcoating; it's more about helping them get to the next level in the direction they wanna go.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

THIS

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah I try to point out things that are going well, and I usually try to only point at things that ppl can work on immediately

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I should phrase my statement more clearly. But yeah Kei that's what I usually look for when critiquing

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

There's often no need to tell them "your writing is only at level 3, and that's bad because the max level is 99." Just tell them how to get to level 4.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I dont' see it like its something bad but something that is challenging to them at the time

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Unless they have extremely unrealistic expectations or whatever that are standing in their own way

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

just have to figure out how to get out of the hump

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yep. I see this phenomenon in animation a lot. A good animation director will help you boost your existing work to something stronger, but still yours. A bad one will tell you to do it their way, and chide you for doing it ‘wrong.’

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

rip I know a person like that and lmao

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yessssss

That's why I always ask "what are your goals" to start

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yup

🌈ERROR404 🌈

I totally agree!!!! A LOT of the most important bits of great criticism is understanding exactly where the original creator was intending to go, and formatting your statements around helping them achieve that!!!!!!!

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Critiques are impossible if you don't know what the person is trying to achieve

🌈ERROR404 🌈

Just stating things that you would change if you were making it may seem useful and relevant to you the critic, but unless the creator is headed the exact same direction as you, they have just as much reason to invalidate the entire statement as they do to nit pick out the things they care to agree with

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Sometimes a prospective critic is simply too far removed from the target audience of the work, like on a fundamental level, and it makes it impossible to give them useful feedback. I think it's important to acknowledge that this can happen. It happens to me a lot and I just decline to give crits when it does.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yeah, like don't ask me to critique a comic about sports lmao

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I agree on that notion, esepcially when seeing professional aritsts giving crits to folks starting out but it doesn't go as er ideal as they thought it would be

Deo101 [Millennium]

That's why I usually only seek out criticsm (for more than just general direction/advice) from people who's work I like

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I remember reading advice on getting beta readers, and it’s really REALLY important that they’re excited for your stuff. They want to make it better. They care. They can give critique, but they absolutely must be jazzed about your subject matter in some way, or else it’ll be a slog for everyone.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

for me, I have my peers who I contact daily and we give each other advice, tips

despite having er difference interests in fields, but we experienced a lot in our program lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yes... (Speaking of if anyone wanted to beta read my next comic uhhhh let me know id love to have u)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

very good point claire

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

100 percent agree Get people who are excited and know your vision

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah I have a small group of writer friends who know all my goals and a lot of my stuff? So they make a very good little critique circle, and we all help eachother

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I'm always ready to beta read if it's a concept I enjoy

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

like people who critique comics they hate. I'm like, damn, tough work but also ?? why

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(Be careful about people who are excited about what they think is your vision.............)

Deo101 [Millennium]

Fish is this a callout for me

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

slightly?

Deo101 [Millennium]

Ahsjfkdjdkskdjdjdj

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Keii I experienced the oppisisite like rip

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

it's just mystifying to me, I don't think it's wrong or anything

Deo101 [Millennium]

Also crona I'll send u when I'm at my comp

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

sure

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

What do you mean Tuyetnhi?

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Ohh that would be oof to deal with Kei

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I had to let a person down to reality bc I know they're excited about their idea but uhhhh

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

(Is it the fish romance?)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

it wasn't engaging to me

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yes that one qjdjfkskdkk

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

nor my illustration friends

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I don’t have beta readers but I think that’s how it all goes lol

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

and we were like

"AAAAAAA"

Deo101 [Millennium]

Oh that's awkward

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Ooooooohhhhhhh... oof

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I have a couple friends I send pages to sometimes but they're always really positive about it

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

It was a rough critique

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Having creative friend circles is so essential for growth and screaming at eachothers works for motivation too

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yessss

Also just the ability to talk about your process without having to explain yourself

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

agreed lol

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I occasionally tap my fiance's shoulder and shove my sketches in his face with zero context, just to make sure he can figure out what's going on without me explaining. Super helpful

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I feel like I have a couple friends where, when I read their stuff, I know things that would amp their work up tenfold. But until they ask me... I’m screaming inside lol

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

lol

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

my friend always makes me feel like i'm a better writer than i am because she thinks so much like me she gets everything i write perfectly lol. But then I post and the comments are like "wtf i'm confused"(edited)

eliushi [Keyspace]

Yeah feedback is most effective when both sides are open and invested

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Claire Senpai Wants To Help

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

also same crona(edited)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

It’s not bad, I just go I THINK I CAN HELP YOU MAKE IT AWESOMER AHHHHHH

eliushi [Keyspace]

Claire senpaiiii

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

But until then I remain still and supportive

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

why don't you ask them "can i suggest things?"

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah I try and keep my mouth shut

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

or "do you want suggestions?"

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

lol

eliushi [Keyspace]

I usually say what I like about it first and then. Are you looking for feedback?

Deo101 [Millennium]

Tbh hearing "can I suggest things?" Usually comes off kinda like "I see stuff wrong with this :)" which can hurt a little even then

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

YEeeeah

🌈ERROR404 🌈

At least for my comic, i have sent bits and pieces for critique from creators i am friends with , but i'm really hesitant promoting myself because I don't feel like I'm not at a place to even get a critique i'll be able to make anything of. O(--( i really don't know what I'd do if someone tried to seriously analyze my plot and break down the story right now

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

It's really hard, because a lot of people (myself included) get scared when someone else asks, "Do you need help?"

Deo101 [Millennium]

I usually trust ppl to say whether they're looking for feedback

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Its always so tricky to gague the reactions of that. Some people handle that better than others So i only offer when they open up

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Based on how people can get about even the offer of critique, yeah, I tend not to say anything. That’s their baby. If they want to open that door, then I’ll poke my head in

eliushi [Keyspace]

True too. I’m already in forums where feedback is wanted so I’m already in selection bias

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yeah, I like to only offer crits if someone is asking for it for that reason

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

for the record i'm always open to critiques

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

kinda mutal agreement on don't chime in unless asked lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah, at least in my groups we send things like "hey this and this are bothering me? Can you help?" And other than that it's just support

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yeah, that's a good idea

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

for both parties. For me, If it's something that I need thoughts I ask but otherwise, lmao my social circles ask me for help for their art stuff

Deo101 [Millennium]

We never agreed on that btw it's just kinda how it goes

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

That's a nice group way to handle that AND make the space more breathable for others who are more nervous about crit work

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

exactly

eliushi [Keyspace]

There’s a time and place for everything and feedback is no different

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah! Like here we have seperate chats for help and sharing

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yuss

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

When someone asks me if I'm open to suggestions, my reaction is usually "nOOoooOo..." but not always. I think it helps a ton if there's an existing rapport, like if I already know this person gets, REALLY gets, my work.

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

And that's okay Keii!

eliushi [Keyspace]

Yeah I’m super thankful for my betas for that

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

yee same

eliushi [Keyspace]

It’s very rewarding when people are also invested in your work to make it better within your means and style

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Honestly u gotta do whats best for u and ur mindset in the end.

Deo101 [Millennium]

It also is a little but awkward to say "no I'm not open to suggestions' cause it feels like you're saying "I don't care to improve" when in reality it's more like "no... I'm happy with this and I don't want it to be soured"

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I love the fact that if I post in #creator_art_share, nobody will critique me unless I ask. And if I post in #art_help, I can get that help. So incredibly nice

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Yes! Thats very respectful

eliushi [Keyspace]

So key

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Omg Deo.....such a mood LOL

Deo101 [Millennium]

I always feel so bad saying no thanks but it's like it looked good I thought

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

omg, I felt that in my soul

We beat ourselves up enough as it is

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Sometimes i know my work can be farty but... I dont also want perfection in every facet of my pieces too and thats okay! Some are learning pieces, others more indulgent

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I think I'd be very hesitant to accept ideas that will utterly break my core plot... unless someone comes out and outright tells me something about it is offensive or wrong or otherwise bad. But critique on the connective tissue between the bones, so to speak, heck yes. I've gotten some much better ideas from that.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

e.e even if i post in art share i would be honored to receive a critique from any of you

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Oh, if someone comes to me with suggestions that are that incompatible with my vision, I'm getting outta there.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

but i don't wanna post every single thing i do in art help hm

but maybe i should

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I am SO getting outta there.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I did had some suggestions that didn't... really help with my comic most of it are just comments and not pure criticism

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Just post it lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah it's probably best to leave crit in the crit section so as not to break that unspoken rule.

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

To signal to the rest of us

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Yea your vision is key, and i find that people who crit the work need a basic understanding of it for it to be a True Crit

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Yeah it's probably best to leave crit in the crit section so as not to break that unspoken rule.

good point

i wouldn't want people critiquing me to make others feel like it's okay to do that to everyone

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

A good attitude!!! Y'all are very respectable this is a wonderful topic

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

yeee

eliushi [Keyspace]

I think the best feedback is one where it makes your work become more effective within your vision. Sometimes it’s finding the betas who are invested but I also find betas who focus on different crafts also can offer a lot of wisdom. I find it comes down to being open and it’s never a bad thing to ask for clarification

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

[also writes this down for a potential lesson actvity for high schoolers] (edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, a critique is supposed to help the work become a better version of itself, not a better [something else]

Deo101 [Millennium]

Mostly with true beta reading I am looking for "how clear is my work coming off to someone who knows nothing of my lore and backstory etc?"

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I like the idea of having at least one beta reader who's a writer, and at least one who's not. The writer can dissect things a bit more than a 'civilian' could while the civilian can look at surface-level things and react as the audience majority might.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

multiple beta readers are a blessing lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

Cause with my friends, they already know everything I'm planning, so i worry a lot that they are putting together things that a regular reader wouldn't

So yeah same thing as a "civilian" reader, sort of!

eliushi [Keyspace]

For sure. Within my critique group I have novelists, webcomic creators and artists. Those who read the complete script and those who haven’t. It’s important to have all sides I find

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Dang you people with your luxury of multiple beta readers... I don't even have one (but it's mostly my fault; my scripts are unreadable)

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

omg lol

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i'm sure you could use many of us as beta readers if you wanted to!

varethane

that surface-level 'first gut reaction' crit can be SO useful

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I change dialogue too frequently for a beta reader to have a fair chance, lol

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I started early with one years ago, but now I have like 5-10ish but they can't help me at the same time lmao

varethane

I agree upthread with when it was said that some of the most helpful crit was given unintentionally lol

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

same. i asked some people, including deo and crona, for a beta read of a script a while back but then ended up changing most of it lol(edited)

eliushi [Keyspace]

Most of my betas I found in forums like these! I’m sure a lot of us want to help each other out!

Deo101 [Millennium]

I usually only share stuff once I have at least a solid sketch and dialogue is in

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

so much changes in the thumbnail/layout stage for me. SO MUCH. whole scenes get swapped/cut/extended

I never keep it the same way

Deo101 [Millennium]

I don't like to share scripts cause also I don't usually script much anyways lol

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) As a long-time reader of HoK, I would be more than happy to beta read if you ever wanted it. Just throwing that out there!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

same Lazuli like

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I'd love to beta read for anyone too

varethane

I prefer sharing sketched pages because my scripts usually change SO much in between being written and going onto the page

like, sometimes they're outright unrecognizable

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Deo101 [Millennium] Same. The couple times I really wasn't unsure about a scene, I had to find someone and give them cleaned up thumbnails

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah I don't share more than sketched pages with dialogue

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

SUPER cleaned up thumbnails

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

from thumbnail to final, like they aren't the same from before lmao

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Most helpful critique for me was just someone engaging with the story. "Man I love - and -, they're such good friends, but - pisses me the fuck off" and that was my intention, but i realized it was coming on a bit stronger than i liked and changed the next scene dramatically to make a future plot point where the last character needs to be trusted feel more earned(edited)

varethane

(anyone who seriously is down for beta reading, I have 3 finished chapters burning a hole in my buffer hhnnnnggggg)

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah cause also like, 80% of the crit is usually "well this paneling is unclear" kind of stuff too

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

also i don't mind if anyone is asking me to beta read

Deo101 [Millennium]

Which you can't do from a script anyways

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

or (I don't usually do this often but)

I'm also a sensitivity beta reader too

so if you have questions about POC stuff, asian-american, er mixed-asian or mixed-black experiences

I'm willing to help lmao

but i'm just one perspective to the table

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

A lot of comments, not critiques, have influenced scenes I put later too. Things to clarify, expand, emphasize. I take every comment like that as an idea. I love knowing what the readers hope to learn.

eliushi [Keyspace]

I’m in the midst of a 180k plus word count novel beta and alphaing a couple works but once that’s all done, happy to take a look too

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

holy

Deo101 [Millennium]

Wowie

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Getting trustful beta readers i gotta say again is so important bc sometimes when asking for some, u run into betas that are there to just exploit that privilege too (tho rare) And!!!! Be respectful of ur betas on the other side of the spectrum

Deo101 [Millennium]

Exploit how?

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

like to read your work early?

eliushi [Keyspace]

Definitely pick your betas wisely

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Usually just the free ride of Knowing the Story or the opportunity to just Constantly Crit (non helpful) bc of personal reasons

Deo101 [Millennium]

Damn

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I'm imagining having someone sneak in as a beta and reveal they're a rabid toxic fan trying to influence the plot to their liking. As an absolute worst scenario

Deo101 [Millennium]

Spooky

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Yea.... There's def ppl out there that would do that THOUGH RARE again. I think that's more of like Competition in the field or spite? But ive heard it happening and its not cool

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

like people just looking for a free ticket to complain about your work?

i can see that

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Oh yeah, I had folks like that before

after that I'm just like "thank you for your time" and block them after LMAO

Deo101 [Millennium]

That sucks :(

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

hhhhhhh

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Yea And u can always tell a sincere crit from a one that comes from a place of malice and ill intent pretty easy.

eliushi [Keyspace]

Exactly

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

oof

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Still!!! A horrible experience

Deo101 [Millennium]

:< yeah

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yeah.. I've never had anything like that happen, but wow... that's a terrifying notion

eliushi [Keyspace]

You tend to want to know your betas more than just them being a reader too. I like to think my betas are my friends and it’s a two way street where I help them too

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Some betas sign papers of confidentiality to avoid these instances of people running off with ur work too

eliushi [Keyspace]

There are paid betas but that’s business side and yeah Krispy

Deo101 [Millennium]

/stress

eliushi [Keyspace]

I don’t have them for mine

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Its scary bc we're all so small and our work is mainly for free U have to be wary of this

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I could easily see myself getting sucked into a bad situation like that I trust people too easily sometimes

but ugh... ya gotta learn

eliushi [Keyspace]

It’s good to know the risks. That being said, I think the rewards of having a good beta far exceed the bad apples. You have to set good boundaries

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Not that any of yall would do this omgjghg

Deo101 [Millennium]

Same Claire ajdjdnsdjjjdjdjdjddj

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

gonna steal all y'alls IDEAS

eliushi [Keyspace]

It’s also totally valid to say, hey something came up and I can’t beta anymore

Key is communication

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

lmao ya gotta kill me for my ideas

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Isossn Watch out for that Claire lady

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

https://tenor.com/view/laugh-giggle-mutley-dick-dastardly-snicker-gif-5552702

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Omg Eli yesssSSSSS that!!! Is important for both creator and beta to have that communication

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Oh no, my precious ideas!!!

Deo101 [Millennium]

Eh even if u steal my ideas you can never steal my characterizations!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

just steal everything and make a horrible hodgepodge of all of our webcomics, like some sick frankenstein's monster

Deo101 [Millennium]

I don't think my ideas are the best part of my stories anyways :P

Ahsjdjfjdjfjdjfjdififiididkfkdje Frankensteins webcomic

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

my ideas are relevant to my cultural background so I'm like lmao

eliushi [Keyspace]

I learned from my novel days that ideas are dime and dozen and it’s the execution that counts(edited)

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I would actually love that tbh

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Oh no id read it tho XD

Deo101 [Millennium]

Massive crossover event

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

YES

PLEASE

eliushi [Keyspace]

Super smash bros when

varethane

lmao

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

hahaha

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I really want people going into healthcare to critique my personal statement, but I won't send it to anyone because I've legitimately heard of people stealing others' personal statements and getting both people rejected

Deo101 [Millennium]

Wow

eliushi [Keyspace]

That’s scary and unfortunate

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

ooof

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

it's almost worse than stealing a story idea because you're stealing like

someone's life story??

or their personality??

it's extremely strange to me

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah that's ??????

eliushi [Keyspace]

I would consider having a mentor look over your statement but that’s veering off creator babble territory

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh i am doing that and very very thankful to them

Deo101 [Millennium]

Good suggestion and good point

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

After recently seeing a whole comic style/theme completely and obviously lifted from another one... yeah, the things that make your comic yours? They can absolutely be stolen whole-cloth

It's scary

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh no

god what even is the fun in that??

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I don't know. I really don't.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

you know what i want to spend years doing? telling a story that's already been told, except worse!

varethane

D:

Deo101 [Millennium]

I've had someone steal designs before

varethane

dpsofasdj I am so curious about these cases now aaahhh

Deo101 [Millennium]

Ppl do steal stuff. But what sucks for them is I'm the one with a brain and I can make new things

eliushi [Keyspace]

I’ve seen similar styles but have not seen a purposeful recreation of another’s style whether as impersonation or plagiarism

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

i just read a webtoon that was "inspired" by an anime with many ideas from anime too

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

It was a case where I always thought the two looked surprisingly similar, but then... yeah, you learn more things and you go AW GOD OKAY

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

this, and offensive stuff, is a case where i think unsolicited critique is 100% okay

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah, though then it's the line of "is it offensive just to me? Or overall?"

Though I guess saying "this offended me" isn't horrible or whatever

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i think of the trend of lgbt youtubers making videos making fun of anti-lgbt crap and that's a case where i'm like yeah! pile on!

You have a good point and there are cases where something is almost objectively offensive

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah, and then there are other cases where ppl are offended by how I've decided to have no homophobia where it's like "okay sure but I'm not doing anything wrong"

But yeah there are definitely times where it's like "no that's bad for sure and I'm allowed to be critical of and mad about it"

I also think there's a difference between criticizing mass media and criticizing independent media

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Wait What what omg???? Thats???? So backwards

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

well, here's an anti-critique. it offends me when someone says that being lgbt must be hard and sad all the time!

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah! I'd agree with that LOL

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

can I just be happy

as a bi woman

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

"IT'S NOT LIKE MY LIFE THEREFORE IT'S INACCURATE"

Deo101 [Millennium]

Ahdjfjskfkdkckskfksdksk yeah

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

So true tho!!

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

God, I hate that argument

Deo101 [Millennium]

Though I do think that its worth it to open yourself up to that kind of critique to potentially reach the people who do need your story

Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§

Yes def agree

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

True true

If there's a blind spot you're missing, then for sure

Deo101 [Millennium]

Well, I was meaning more like "you can't please everyone, but that shouldn't stop you from trying your best anyways!"

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Ah! also true

Deo101 [Millennium]

Like not necessarily blind spots, but more like. Some people will be mad no matter what sorta thing

Yee

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

so tru

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yeah for sure. I've tried to cover my bases on certain things in my own work, but I'm sure if it ever gets bigger, someone will be unhappy about something.

I'm not ready for that day, but... maybe it'll come

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah. Like I said I had someone get mad at me for not having homophobia

Where it's like... Okay stop reading then cause this isn't the story for you

Actually my friends replied to then and they did kinda turn around on their thinking, I think, so that was nice!

There's something I'm bad at for the question, is replying to my comments

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

oh? :0

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

okay sometimes i've said to my friends "yo weird ass comment, right?" and they've gone and defended me like way extra hard

i'm always grateful but also a little (edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah same. .

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

too mch man

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah it's like Thank you but

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I do have some weird comments but the ones that I just kinda trying to offend me

I don't look at it till after a few months and respond to them calmly lmao

no point for me to just get rilied up for someone trying to get on my nerves but rip that's probably just me and how I deal with that stuff in irl too

I don't let my friends go after bozos lmao

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah for me I just like. Try really hard to be diplomatic, I guess? But it takes a lot of energy

When what I WANT to say is "lol read another comic then" or something but I try to think of a way to be nice

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

yee I understand on that. for me I'm just say it as it is if at's the moment but for more heated comments I address them after a few months lol

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I haven't gotten any weird randos yet apart from... one legendary one But things are always calmer on your own site far away from Tapas/Webtoons

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I agree on that but lmao

I did had one angry commenter going agro for few of my pages

and I looked at it and I was like "Oh worm man"

they were just reacting to my characters being shit LMAO

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

OH WORM MAN

very good

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I ignore it tbh. I recently had someone comment "All lives matter" at the end of my comic because I included "Black lives matter" at the end. And I honestly knew i didn't have the mental fortitude to explain to them why that was so rude and missing the point.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

lol my mom is saying that stuff and i'm just like :|

okay mother

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

I guess for writing for me, now thinking about it is that

on the prompt: I don't respond quick and I'm not really active much on interaction but I want to try more

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I haven't gotten any weird randos yet apart from... one legendary one But things are always calmer on your own site far away from Tapas/Webtoons

I really haven't either though! Just a few people saying mildly :| things, no hate or anything. Wt is not always as scary as its reputation

or maybe i'm in the eye of the hurricane idk

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

lol

I have had mostly good experiences too

Deo101 [Millennium]

I've had mostly good too!

I know I complain a lot but really I'm just salty and that's just a few bad things here and there

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

The comment I was thinking about earlier was just an innaccurate interpretation of characters' feelings. They thought some people had a romantic history. I wasn't going to respond but my friend went all "if you actually read the comic you would see th- " and I was thinking omg tone it down a bit

Deo101 [Millennium]

Bajsjdjekdjdkdjd

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

never underestimate the Friend Army

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I had a reader I didn't know defend me in the comments once. The original commenter was complaining about the length of my updates, and the other reader started railing on them. It was powerful lmao. I didn't even need to say anything

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Oh! same

Deo101 [Millennium]

I've had some ppl defend me or explain for me and it's like. Idk a special kind of magic ahahahah

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Oh for sure! It feels magical to know that some of your readers passionately love your work

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Update-length complainers are so cathartic to smack down. Not that I've done it, I just... like seeing it

You're getting a free comic. Made by a human with a life. Chill

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

All my comments are normal where are my weirdos

boogeymadam

someone take some of my weirdos, my comic attracts them

but not really because i accidentally gave claire one of my weirdos and i feel Sooooo bad

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

i feel im still a long way off from getting anyone with my comic

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

weirdos are contagious apparently

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

You don't have to be popular to get a weirdo

Sometimes like... you could have 1 regular commenter and that person is a weirdo

or not even a commenter, you show your work to a RL friend before posting it online, and the friend takes off their mask dramatically, and reveals their True Identity as a professional weirdo

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

for real, i was posting on SJ and had all of like a dozen followers and one guy went through and heavily critiqued a ton of my pages

Like technical stuff like paneling and flow of action?

Also said my female lead looks like a man and my animation was nauseating lol

Haruh2 (Colony Life)

heh well after i do this current update im working on, i'll be scraping how ive been doing updates and following some tutorials i finally found

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I like critique but even so that guy was :|

boogeymadam

omg noooo sorry that happened fish! D: unsolicited critics are some of the worst

DanitheCarutor

I guess that is the one thing I've been lucky with. I actually don't mind unsolicited critique, but I've never gotten any outside of one time someone corrected my character's grammar in the comments. Commentary like that is way more welcome than the occasional anonymous hate comment, and malicious article calling me a fetishist, which is all entertaining in its own way but not as easy to deal with. Now that critique is brought up I'm reminded that I need to work on how I respond to it. Like, I actually get kind of excited when someone takes the time to break down my stuff (even if it totally misses the mark with what I'm trying to accomplish), but I end up responding with a novel and sometimes it's worded in a way that sounds like I'm upset. I need to get better at keeping it short and sweet.

Feather J. Fern

I raise my hand to say I can't draw hands for the life of me still after praticing for a long time. I used all the techiques, tricks, and still my hands are just butts.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

make a universe where people have butts for hands

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

This is a really minor one and thankfully easy to correct after publishing, but: my ESL-ness shows sometimes, especially with prepositions and articles. My English isn't terrible; there's just some occasional "wait did they mean 'on' where they put 'in'..." That's on the surface level. I also can't do that 'just write the dialog and see how the characters bounce off each other' thing in English. I hadn't thought much about that until I started writing a story in Korean, and I was surprised how much easier it was to get flowin' with the dialog. I'm not toooo concerned about this one, as Get Flowin' is just one way of writing a scene. But it is a thing.

Feather J. Fern

Eightfish stop calling me out that I can draw butts better than hands okay(edited)

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

feather have fun drawing the gluteus maximus

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I see nothing wrong here

Moral_Gutpunch

I'm bettign most people here can draw hands better than me.(edited)

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

S’okay, my hand drawing is pretty bad

Feet is...also an issue

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

The best reference is the one attached to you, I always say

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

or make your so pose for you

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yes

That

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

looks back at comic and sees lots of guy characters with slender palms MHMMMM

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Hahaha

Lol

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

ahahha i have the same problem

some guys have thick ass fingers when i look at them closely omg

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yeah, everyone has pretty thin fingers in mine, because I have thin fingers(edited)

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Okay yeah not gonna lie I HAVE made my SO pose for me. Several times.

Oh yeah don’t forget

Guys can have hairy knuckles too

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I have had my SO pose his hands retroactively for me, imitating a panel I did And I was screaming inside LOL

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

this stuff makes me :00

Deo101 [Millennium]

I have hairy knucles and my hands are bigger than my dads

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Ughhhh, that's too much detail for me, Shadow

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Yoslslzlzrhlzxzzkhzhlztututs funnily enough my SO’s hands and mine are of similar length

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

For such a small person, I have really long fingers

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

reminded me of a convo i had with some friends

they sent a reference and said they thought it was unrealistic because of how much the tendons stick out

and i said, no, that's how mine look

and it was interesting seeing the differences

Deo101 [Millennium]

everyone share hands

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I mean, especially since your fingers are stretched, the tendons stick out lol(edited)

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Someone told me I have piano fingers

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

like i always think of my hands as the 'default,' because I see them the most but really there is much variation

deo has nice hands

look elegant

shadows hands look a lot like the rest of her :0

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Whhhhhhhhh

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

tall librarian

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

GJOXJPSLZLJZDXKXYOF

Yeah true XD

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

My nails are super long rn

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Holy shit the manicures

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I did it myself

Deo101 [Millennium]

thank U i have lovely hands that are big as fuck, and I can use as a ruler

because my pinky and thumb can stretch out exactly 10 inches

this cup is 10 inches tall

youre welcome

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I have stubby baby hands as well as double jointed fingers, so I'm very aware my hands aren't "average" looking. Yet if I don't pay attention, I tend to draw hands kind of like mine

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Hahahaha, Deo!!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

wow so useful i should measure my hands

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Me too tbh

Deo101 [Millennium]

I atually suggest it it comes in handy (ha) more than youd think

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i found a joint that measures exactly 1 inch and i use it so much

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah!!!

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Whoooooa

Mine goes 8 inches

Deo101 [Millennium]

my hands are fookin hyuge bro

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Wait

8.5

YEAH YOURS ARE GIANT

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

exactly 8 inches

omg your hands are huge

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Mine stretch out to just under 7.5 inches

Deo101 [Millennium]

in yalls defense I also have ehlers danlos so theyre probably stretching more than yours too

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I have smol hands because I am smol

Deo101 [Millennium]

tiney

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Yus

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

surprised shadow managed to find a way to measure in inches haha

Deo101 [Millennium]

she said it wrong its actually 8.5 cm

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

8.5 inches

I used a ruler

In cm it’s 21

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

she said it wrong its actually 8.5 cm

hm maybe that's why she thinks hands are hard to draw

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

LMHfhgzmzjKfhl

Deo101 [Millennium]

because she has tiny baby hands and can barely hold the pencil... yes

its all coming together

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

I will slap y’all with my tiny baby doll hands

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

i'm learning so much about you all today

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Now you see my pain

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

o h wait do you play music crona?

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Uh... Not really. I've messed around on the piano, and failed at playing the French horn

Deo101 [Millennium]

LMAO

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Playing instruments is hard for smol hands

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

rip

Feather J. Fern

My tiny hands compared to my pen XD

Also I took the picture close up and at an angle so not cone cna make fun of my writsts which are narrower than my computer mouse

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

my wrists are also narrower than my mouse, and my mouse is pretty small

Deo101 [Millennium]

mine's about the same as my mouse

Feather J. Fern

Yeah I got a pretty small mouse too, I been told by people to eat more becuase of my wrists (It's an Asian thing apparently) and I'm like "First of all rude, second of all my health is not any of your concern random lady on the street"

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

yup

Tiny wrist solidarity!

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Solidarity!

varethane

I don't have especially thin wrists but my hands are lowkey shaped pretty oddly. I only posted a photo of my hand petting a cat to FB and got a lot of comments like 'cute cat but what's with that hand????'

(it did look pretty weird from that angle. Like a noodle with a couple of noodlefingers at the end)

spacerocketbunny

Oh no Vare ;;;;;3;;;;;;;;;

[haven-system]

Hey, my names Leif.. technically I am the host, and let me tell you that sucks. I might be the host but I dont really identify with the body. I am around 15 or 16 its not really.. solidified. Im not particularly mature, but I am really artsy. I do art, and sketch, and I want to be an author, and I knit.. I also hold most of the body’s memories. And it kind of sucks. I exemplify the bodies autism, and the body is riddled with f*cking chronic illnesses so I don’t particularly move around a lot, except for when I get to use the cane or the wheelchair, but the body’s family isn’t really.. accepting of anything being wrong with him. Im am a pansexual nonbinary masc.. human. Im taken as of December 29th last year. Im also an age slider, so I do spend a lot of time around the ages of 1 or 2 all the way up to 6 or 8. I have an ageregression insta account at SunflowerHavens, I post cute content and am pretty much active fulltime over there. So uh.. yea. Im a witch! Practicing normally, but with mental health in the toilet its hard to practice.

[thelastspeecher]

Superhero/villain AU - Cousins

Originally, I was just going to post the part of this that had Emmett in it.  But then I decided to title it “Cousins”, and I figured I had to include the part I wrote with Emily, since she is also a cousin.  As a reminder, this is a modern AU, so Shermie is Dipper and Mabel’s dad, making Stan their uncle, rather than great-uncle.  Anyways, enjoy the far too much stuff I wrote, featuring emo Emmett and ray of sunshine Emily.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

              “Emily, what powers do you have?” Dipper asked.  Emily looked up from what she was working on, some sort of homemade illicit firework.  She and Dipper were relaxing in the backyard while Mabel ran errands with Angie.  

              “Aerokinesis.  Why?”

              “I’m just curious, that’s all.”  Dipper frowned.  “I don’t think that runs in the Pines family.”

              “You’d be right ‘bout that,” Emily said, turning her attention back to the gunpowder in front of her.  “It’s from my ma’s side.  Actually, she’s an aero too.  And so is her mom.  It’s kinda cool.  Like a family tradition.”  Emily looked up, thinking.  “Daisy got Dad’s powers, Danny’s are from Ma’s side – apparently our great-grandma had the same power as her – and Emmett’s are new.”

              “New?”  Dipper cocked his head curiously.  “What do you mean?”  He closed his book and put it to the side, then took out a notepad and pen from his vest. Emily chortled.

              “You makin’ a family tree or somethin’, cuz?”

              “How powers get inherited is just…really cool.”

              “Yeah.  It is. That’s why Uncle Ford researches it.” Emily sighed.  “Anyways, Emmett’s power is sorta a combination of Grandma Pines’ and…”  Emily trailed off.  She frowned. “One of Grandma Gucket’s sister’s, I think.  Grandma Gucket is estranged from her family, so I’ve never met whoever it is Emmett got part of his power from.”

              “What is his power?” Dipper asked.  Emily shook her head.

              “Sorry, kid.  My sisters, I’m fine tellin’ you, but Emmett’s power is, ah, sensitive.  He doesn’t like people knowing about it.  If you wanna know, ask him.”

              “Maybe…”  Dipper chewed on his pen thoughtfully.  He hadn’t seen much of Stan and Angie’s only son, even over a month into the summer. Emmett was very antisocial, or to use the word Mabel had immediately identified him as, emo.

              “Hey bro-bro, hey Emily!”  Mabel’s shout shocked Dipper from his reverie.  He looked over.  Mabel bounded through the back door and over to them.  “Auntie Angie got me some new yarn!”

              “It weren’t no problem,” Angie replied, strolling outside.  She smiled fondly at Mabel.  “Got to encourage creativity in young folk.”

              “Aunt Angie, Emily was telling me you had powers?” Dipper asked her.  Angie froze.  She frowned at Emily.

              “Wait, what?” Mabel gasped.  “I thought you didn’t!  I thought that was why Dad told us not to ask you what power you have!”

              “I-”  Angie’s expression was conflicted.  She took a breath.  “The reason yer dad said not to ask was prob’ly because it’s a bit rude to ask.  The two of ya could use some work on yer manners, after all.”

              “What power do you have?” Mabel asked.

              “Emily said aerokinesis,” Dipper said.  Mabel’s eyes widened.

              “Whoa, isn’t that like, what Uncle Stan’s archnemesis has?” she asked. Angie glared at Emily.

              “…Yes.”

              “Oh my gosh, that’s so romantic,” Mabel gushed.  “I mean, you two fell in love even though you have the same power as the person he hates most!”

              “I think the person Dad hates most is the IRS,” Emily said.  Her cheerful tone sounded a bit forced.  “Then again, that’s an organization, not a person.”

              “Mm-hmm.”  Angie cleared her throat.  “Emily?”

              “Comin’,” Emily said, getting to her feet.  She followed Angie inside.

              “I didn’t know that would get Emily in trouble,” Dipper said quietly to Mabel.  “I feel kinda bad.”

              “Pfft, you’re probably reading into things,” Mabel said.  “Auntie Angie probably isn’t mad at her.  I mean, she didn’t do anything wrong.”

              “Yeah, but…”  Dipper sighed.  “Never mind. Did you have any luck with Aunt Angie?”

              “Nope.”  Mabel flopped onto the grass next to him.  “She said she doesn’t know anything about Uncle Stan’s job.”

              “Great.  So we’re no closer to figuring out who Sirocco is.”  Dipper resuming chewing on his pen.  “Maybe we could ask Emily if she knows any aeros other than her and Aunt Angie. It’s not a very common power.”

              “Maybe.”  Mabel picked at the grass.  “Dipper, are you sure you wanna keep at this?  It’s kinda boring.  I mean, if Uncle Stan couldn’t figure out Sirocco’s true identity, do we stand a chance at it? Wouldn’t you rather go do touristy things and look at all the stuff in the city?  Auntie Angie said Emily is planning on taking us to some superhero-themed place tomorrow.”

              “We can do both, Mabel.  And yes, I wanna figure it out.  I don’t have the kind of power that’s gonna make me a natural superhero, so I need to make sure I’ve got the detective part down.  This is good practice.”

              “I guess,” Mabel sighed.

              “By the way, I think Emmett has some sort of telepathic power.”

              “Really?  Why?”

              “Emily said his power is actually combined from Grandma Pines’ and someone in Aunt Angie’s family.  Grandma Pines is telepathic.  And it’d make sense for someone to avoid people if they’re telepathic.  Being able to hear thoughts all the time has to be difficult,” Dipper said.  Mabel nodded. “But Emily wouldn’t tell me outright what his power is.  She said it’s ‘sensitive’.  Whatever that means.”

              “We should ask him.”

              “Maybe.”  Dipper rubbed the back of his neck.  “But I get the feeling if it’s sensitive enough Emily won’t tell us, Emmett won’t, either.”

              “That’s quitter talk.  You’re never gonna be a detective if you won’t ask our own cousin a question,” Mabel said, shoving him playfully.  Dipper shoved her back, laughing.

              “Kids!”  Dipper and Mabel looked over at the back door.  It was Angie. “Emily’s grounded fer a couple days, so Emmett’s goin’ to take ya to the café tomorrow.  Sound good?”

              “Sounds great, Auntie Angie!” Mabel shouted.  Angie smiled.  She closed the back door.  Mabel turned to Dipper.  “Huh. I guess you were right.  Emily’s in trouble.”

              “Yeah.  But why? Why would telling someone about Aunt Angie’s power get her grounded?” Dipper wondered out loud.  Mabel grinned at him.

              “Maybe you should work on that, detective.”

----- 

              “So, uh, here’s the coffeeshop or whatever,” Emmett mumbled, nodding at the store they were standing in front of.  He stuffed his hands into his hoodie pocket.  “They’ve got good hot chocolate.”

              “What about espresso?” Mabel asked.  Emmett glanced at her with the eye not covered by his dyed black hair.

              “…If I let you have coffee, Dad’ll be so mad, he might sign me up fer boxing again.”  Emmett looked back at the storefront.  “But that bein’ said, they have a decent espresso.”  Emmett let out a long sigh.  “Let’s just get this over with.”  He pushed open the door, making the bell above jingle.

              “By the way, Emmett,” Mabel said, following him into the coffeeshop, “I’ve been meaning to ask.  What brand eyeliner do you use?”  Emmett eyed her again.  “It just looks so nice!”

              “Uh, thanks,” Emmett said.  He looked away.  “It’s part of the Angst Outside line from g.n.o.m.e.”

              “I’ll have to look into that,” Mabel chirped.  She sniffed the air.  “Mm.  I love the coffee smell!  Don’t you, Dipper?”

              “Yeah, I like it,” Dipper agreed.  He looked around.  The coffeeshop was quaint and cute, like most local cafés.  There was a back wall apparently reserved for fliers promoting various events, tchotchkes on every surface, and some sort of folksy music playing. What set apart the coffeeshop from other ones he’d been to was the theme of the décor.  Superheroes.  The tchotchkes were superhero figurines and the artsy posters on the walls renditions of local heroes.  Dipper picked up a ceramic sculpture of someone he thought was called Manly Man. Ignoring his cousins’ fascination with the décor, Emmett trudged over to the counter.

              “Well, like I said, I’m not getting either of you guys coffee.  Or anything with caffeine, really.”  He let out a long sigh.  “I guess I can get you a cookie to share or somethin’.”

              “Ooh, yes!”  Mabel bounded over to the display case by the counter, pressing her face against the glass. “Dipper, look!  They’ve got a cookie named after Un- Flamethrower!”

              “Wait, really?”  Dipper joined his twin at the display case.  Mabel pointed at a gingersnap cookie that had a honey-chili frosting on top in the shape of the logo on Stan’s superhero suit.  “Cool.”

              “This place is themed after superheroes,” Emmett grunted.  He shrugged.  “I like the supervillain one more, but Dad wanted you to come here, so…”

              “I like the supervillain one more, too,” a teenaged boy said, coming out from a door behind the counter.  He grinned at Emmett.  “Most Sycamore Grove kids do.”  Emmett beamed.  Dipper elbowed Mabel.

          ��   “Mabel, look!”  Mabel tore herself away from the sweets.  She gaped.

              “I don’t think I’ve seen Emmett smile once this summer,” she whispered. Emmett leaned on the counter.

              “I didn’t know ya worked here, Carter,” he said, his voice just as cheerful as Emily’s usually was.  Carter chuckled.

              “Well, don’t tell Ruby or Derek.  They might kick me outta the group.”

              “Please,” Emmett said, waving a hand clad in a fingerless glove.  “You were there when my dad got home from work that day.  You didn’t kick me out, and neither did Ruby or Derek when they found out.  Workin’ here ain’t nearly as big a deal as my dad’s job.”

              “Yeah, but you didn’t choose your dad’s job.  I chose to work here,” Carter said playfully.  Emmett laughed.  “So, lemme guess, these kids are your cousins?”  Emmett paled.

              “You didn’t-”

              “No!  I know better than to outside of school.  They look a lot like your dad, that’s all.”

              “Oh.  Right.” Emmett looked at Dipper and Mabel. “Yeah.  They do.”  He cleared his throat.  “So, uh, go ahead and order, okay?”  

              “I think we’re going to need a minute to decide,” Dipper said, scanning the extensive menu behind Carter.  Mabel had returned to ogling the desserts.  Emmett smiled weakly.

              “Take yer time,” he said.  He turned back to Carter.  “Have ya heard from Leif lately?”

----- 

              Emmett and Carter chatted the entire time Carter was working on their drinks, animatedly discussing mutual friends and teachers.  By the time they finally left the coffeeshop, Dipper and Mabel had heard at least twice as many words from Emmett as they’d heard since they arrived.

              “I know a shortcut,” Emmett said, jerking his head in the direction of a nearby alleyway.

              “Are you sure?” Dipper asked.  He wrapped his fingers tightly around his to-go iced hot chocolate.  “It looks a bit shady.”

              “It’s fine.”  Emmett walked away at a fast pace, making Dipper and Mabel jog briefly to catch up. The further they got from the coffeehouse, the more withdrawn he became, his posture slumped and eyes downcast.

              “Who was that?” Mabel asked.

              “Carter?  He’s m’ best friend.”

              “What’s Sycamore Grove?” Dipper asked.  Emmett hunched his shoulders.

              “The high school I go to.”

              “I thought Emily said she went to…what was it called?  Franklin?”

              “Yeah,” Emmett mumbled.  “We go to dif’rent high schools.”

              “But you guys are twins!” Mabel said.  Emmett’s pace slowed.

              “Yeah,” he repeated.  “But I had to go to Sycamore Grove fer…reasons.”  Emmett kicked at a rock.  It hit a nearby dumpster with a ringing sound.  “Emily doesn’t need to go there, though, so she goes to Franklin.”

              “Is Sycamore Grove the high school for troubled teens?” Dipper asked. His eyes widened.

              Oh no, I shouldn’t have said that!  Emmett might think I’m insulting him!  To his surprise, Emmett let out a soft chuckle.

              “I mean, yer not completely wrong.”

              “What do you mean?” Mabel asked.  Emmett sighed.

              “It’s complicated.  I don’t wanna-”  Emmett came to a sudden stop.  He held his arm out, blocking Dipper and Mabel from going past him.  “I see you,” Emmett said in a clear, carrying voice.  “Stop hidin’ and come out here in the open.” Dipper winced.  Something about Emmett’s voice was almost painful to hear. A shadowy figure dropped from above, landing in front of them.

              “Who’s-” Mabel started.  Emmett put a hand on her head.

              “Shh, cuz.  Lemme handle this.”  Emmett straightened his back.  He looked directly at the stranger in front of them.  “Go home.”  Dipper winced again.

              Why does it hurt when he talks like that?  It’s like he’s shouting, but he’s not.   Or like he’s saying more than one thing at once.  The stranger turned around and began to walk away.

              “Drop everything dangerous yer carrying,” Emmett said quickly.  Despite the pain it caused, Dipper listened intently to his cousin’s voice, trying to figure out what was going on.  The stranger slowly removed items from their pockets, dropping them onto the ground.  “When you get home, forget you saw us.”  Dipper clasped his hands over his ears.  His drink fell to the ground.

              Okay, trying to listen harder was a bad decision.  Emmett crouched down in front of him.

              “Dipper?” Emmett asked quietly.  “You all right?”  Emmett’s eyes, for once neither of them hidden by his bangs, were full of concern. Up close, Dipper could see they were a rich brown, like his and Mabel’s.

              “Yeah, I just- your voice hurt a bit, that’s all.”

              “It hurt?” Emmett said.  He seemed taken aback.  “That’s- how would that-”  He furrowed his brow.  “What power do you have?”

              “Um, Dad says it’s called omnilingualism.”

              “Omni-  Oh. You understand languages and codes?”

              “Y-yeah.”

              “How powerful are you?”

              “Um, I dunno.”

              “Can you figure out people’s intentions by readin’ body language, if you focus hard enough?”

              “Yeah.”

              “Oh dear.”  Emmett grimaced.  “I bet you got a bit of Grandma Pines’ telepathy.  I’m sorry, Dipper.  If I’d known, I wouldn’t have gone so strong.”

              “Whattaya mean?” Mabel asked.  “How did your voice hurt Dipper?  I’m fine!”

              “People with communication-based abilities like omnilingualism get affected more by my power,” Emmett said.  He looked over Dipper with a careful gaze similar to Angie’s.  “And folks with telepathy can tell when I use it, but they’re usually able to block it out.  I’m guessin’ those two things made ya get hurt even though I wasn’t directing anything at you, Dipper.  Again, I’m sorry.  If I ever have to do it again ‘round you, I’ll be more careful.”

              “I’m fine, I just- wait, what about that bad guy?” Dipper asked. Emmett didn’t even bother to look over his shoulder.

              “He’s headin’ home and won’t remember what we look like, don’t worry.”

              “How do you know he-” Dipper started.  He paused.  “Unless your power is…”

              “…Yeah.”  Emmett stood to his full height again and looked away.  “I can control people.”  He stuffed his hands into his hoodie pocket.  “Grandma Gucket’s sister could do it by singin’ at folks.  Called it a siren call.  Grandma Pines can by usin’ her telepathy if she tries hard enough.  I got a bit of both.  Verbal commands work best, but if I so much as think ‘bout somethin’ I want someone to do, it usually happens.”

              “How did you figure it out?” Mabel asked.  Emmett scuffed the toe of his shoe against the ground.

              “When my sister actually left my room when I told her to, I knew somethin’ was afoot.”  He sighed. “I’ve gotten good enough that controlling people is on purpose most of the time.  But I still slip up sometimes.  So Ma and Dad shipped me off to Sycamore Grove.”  Emmett shook his head.  “Enough ‘bout my power.  Dipper, if ya want, we can get you a new drink.”

              “It’s fine, I think I wanna go back to your house,” Dipper said quietly.

              “Fair enough.”  Emmett set off.  He kept glancing at Dipper as they walked, visibly worried.

              “I’m fine, Emmett, don’t worry.”

              “Yeah, I just…”  Emmett looked away.  “…Never mind.”

              “Seriously though, what sort of school is Sycamore Grove?” Dipper asked. “I mean, Carter said people from there don’t like the superhero café or Uncle Stan’s job, you said it was sort of for troubled teens, Aunt Angie and Uncle Stan sent you there because of your power-”  Dipper cut himself off.  He exchanged a look with Mabel.  Mabel’s eyes were wide, indicating she had figured it out, too.

              “Yep,” Emmett said glumly.  “It’s the school villains send their kids to.”

              “Whoa,” Dipper and Mabel said together.  Emmett nodded.

              “Sure, anyone can attend, but no one would send their kid there if they didn’t have to.  Unfortunately, they’re the only people who can handle my powers, which means I’m one of the kids who has to go there.”

              “I’m guessing Uncle Stan didn’t like that,” Dipper said.  Emmett grinned, surprising Dipper.

              “You’d be right.  Ma won’t even let him pick me up from school, she’s so worried ‘bout someone recognizing him as the hero, Flamethrower.  I actually kinda like how uncomfortable it makes Dad.”  He glanced at Dipper and Mabel.  “Now that I’ve gotten used to goin’ to school with a bunch of kids whose parents regularly beat up mine.”

              “Doesn’t it make Aunt Angie uncomfortable, too, sending you there?” Dipper asked.  “You only mentioned Uncle Stan.”  Emmett’s eyes widened.  He looked away hurriedly.

              “Uh, yeah, it- it does, it’s just that since Dad’s actually a hero, his discomfort is more entertaining.”  Emmett took a left turn and they exited the alleyway.  Stan and Angie’s house stood before them.

              “We’re back already?” Mabel asked, surprised.  Emmett nodded.

              “Yep.”

              “That was some shortcut.  I need tips from you,” Mabel said cheerfully.

              “…Maybe some other time.  I’m gonna…go…” Emmett said.  By the end of his sentence, he had resumed the soft mumbling they usually heard from him. He headed for the house.  Dipper grabbed Mabel before she could follow.

              “What is it, bro-bro?” Mabel asked him.

              “Emmett lied,” Dipper whispered to her.  “Once he said he went to a villain school, I decided to pay extra attention to see if he was lying at all.”

              “And he was?  When?”

              “When he said that Aunt Angie was uncomfortable with sending him to the villain high school.”

              “So Auntie Angie thinks that’s fine?  She married a superhero!”

              “I know.”  Dipper looked over at the house.  Angie was weeding in the front garden.  She caught sight of them and waved.  “I think we need to go back to the drawing board, Mabel.  We’ve got some clues to connect.”  Mabel groaned.

              “You’re not gonna use my red yarn again, are you?”

              “What else would I use on my evidence board?”

              “Fine,” Mabel mumbled.  She poked him.  “I had a really cute sweater planned, so this better be worth it.”

              “Don’t worry.  It will be.”

[wineblushcrossing]

things i want in animal crossing switch

cooking/baking! it doesn’t have to be complex, either. maybe it could be a very simple system where there’s a set amount of recipes you can and each villager has a favorite food, and if you give them their favorite food, it raises your friendship with them! maybe there’s also seasonal food you can make that will ALWAYS raise a villager’s friendship with you! (i just wanna make valentines chocolates for my faves,) maybe there could also be a cooking competition, too!

more ways to interact with villagers in general and seeing them do more things in the environment! maybe they can ACTUALLY catch fish and bugs or dig up fossils and if you’re close enough to them when they do it, they can ping you and offer up their catch/finding for either bells or an inventory item! i could see this being a good way to get bugs and fish that are really hard to get, too! maybe you can catch them burying pitfalls! maybe during winter, they could build snowmen! maybe you can watch them go in and out of their homes and other buildings in real time! maybe you can watch them aCTUALLY DONATE TO PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS--

artsy and nerdy villagers!!! two good, non-gender-specific personality types! artsy villagers could be shy and sensitive and maybe a little hard to get to know, but once they open up, they can send you poems in the mail or tell you about their favorite art! maybe they can talk about wendell! maybe they can also show you custom designs from your friends if they’ve visited before! maybe if they offer you a painting from redd’s, it’ll have a higher chance of being the real thing! and nerdy villagers could be really excitable about science and math and talk about the books they’ve read! maybe they can tell you about the bugs and fish that are available during the time of year you’re in! maybe they can be seen fishing and bug catching more often than any other type of villager!

flower storage/a greenhouse! maybe when a villager moves on a really inconvenient place, like a patch of flowers you worked REALLY HARD to breed for, they can get sent to a special storage system for flowers! maybe it could be unlocked through leif to give him more things to do on weeding day!

town and island expansions! maybe these could be public works projects to give you more space in town to develop and more things to do on the island! and maybe with each town expansion, you could get an additional villager slot for both regular move-ins and campers! i’d say a good number for each set of expansions would be 5 for town, and 3 for the island??

MORE PLACES LIKE THE ISLAND WHERE YOU CAN CATCH EXCLUSIVE BUGS/FISH. maybe they could be different climates and stuff so you could get things for all 4 seasons and all weather types without having to wait a full year! you’d have to wait to unlock each of them, of course, and maybe they could also have exclusive minigames and furniture too!

more mayoral duties!! assuming we still get to be mayor, i really want them to add more stuff to do AS the mayor! this could be helping solve villager problems on a slightly larger scale, and maybe giving us the chance to have a little more agency in choosing who gets to move in! like!!! maybe you could get a set of random applications from villagers who want to move in, and you can approve one of them per set! maybe there could be a small wait per application set of like. 3-4 days after the last move-in, and just so you don’t always get repeat applications, there could be a 16-villager rotation like you have when a villager moves out

a better way to place down public works projects!! the system we have isn’t all that great, so more control of where we get to put down a public works project would be really nice! like. maybe it could be sort of similar to stardew valley’s building system where you put the thing you wanna build down on a plot of land on the map!

CEILING FIXTURES AND RUGS.

happy home designer-style decorating RIGHT OFF THE BAT

more custom design slots!!!!!

part time jobs outside of helping brewster at the cafe! like!!! maybe you could help out tom with paperwork or help out the nooklings as a cashier or help out reese and cyrus at the recycle shop! maybe they can give you exclusive furniture like how brewster does!

C L I F F S

bat and lizard villagers!

[leifstump]

moomins ✨in love✨

[glitchi-art]

Bugs!! All of them belong to amazing people of Bug Fables Amino >:Dc

[arefart]

ARTIST: @aref.art •============• MODEL: @juliaaburch •===================== • PHOTOGRAPHER : Unknown •==================== • MUSIC: Leif Jonsson •===============• QUALITY : SUPERREAL •================ • SIZE: 110 CM * 150 CM •============== • ORDER 🔘 Direct message •=================== • HASHTAG: #art #arts #artist #artistsoninstagram #artista #artistic #artists #drawing #drawings #draw #drawingsketch #drawingoftheday #portrait #portraitdrawing #girl #face #model #modeling #sketch #sketching #artsy #instaart #artsanity #artwork #artgallery #etsy #bigdrawing #portraitmood #portraitart #facegirl •======================• https://www.instagram.com/p/CUVMRTLj2tI/?utm_medium=tumblr

[gadgetgirl71]

Top Ten Tuesday 15 December 2020

Welcome to this weeks Top Ten Tuesday. Originally created by The Broke & The Bookish, which is now hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week it features a book or literary themed category. This weeks prompt is:

Books On My Winter 2020-2021 TBR:

The Trials of Koli Rampart Trilogy Part 2 by M R Carey

The journey through M. R. Carey’s “immersive, impeccably rendered world” (Kirkus) — a world in which nature has turned against us — continues in The Trials of Koli, book two of the Rampart Trilogy.The earth wants to swallow us whole…Koli has been cast out from Mythen Rood. Behind him are his family and the safety of the known. Ahead, the embrace of the deadly forests awaits. But Koli heard a story, once. A story about lost London, where the tech of old times was so plentiful it was just lying on the streets. And if he can safely lead Ursula, Cup and Monono to this sparkling city, maybe he can save the rest of humanity, too. In a world where a journey of two miles is an odyssey, he’s going to walk two hundred. But the city is not what it once was…and around him, Ingland is facing something it hasn’t seen in three centuries: war. The Rampart Trilogy The Book of Koli, The Trials of Koli, The Fall of Koli For more from M. R. Carey, check out:The Girl With All the Gifts, Fell side, The Boy on the Bridge, Someone Like Me By the same author, writing as Mike Carey:The Devil You Know, Vicious Circle, Dead Men’s Boots, Thicker Than Water, The Naming of the Beasts

Reflect Reclaim Trilogy Book 1 by Jesse Booth & Joanna Reeder

Their romance only lasted a short few months… but that was more than 100 years ago.

Ever since his fiancé, Gemma MacLugh, was killed at the hands of a dragon shifter, vampire Leif Villers has mourned his loss. Still, a part of him never gave up on her. He could hear her voice, feel her love even through the grave, relive her memories over and over until they were stripped from him.

Now Leif has discovered the final piece to bring her back from death’s clutches. He carried her brooch, never knowing it held the key to resurrecting his love.

Too bad it’s now in the hands of the formidable kraken shifter who nearly destroyed the Shifter Academy in the recent vampire/shifter war and then slithered away, never to be seen again.

————

Across time, powerful selkie Gemma MacLugh–a magic user who can shape-shift into a seal–should have a wonderful, comfortable existence at her home in New York in 1897. But jealous sisters target her with their cruelty, making life miserable. If not for her Grandmother and her best friend and fellow selkie, Frederick, things might have been truly unbearable.

But when a mermaid seer foretells her upcoming death and opportunity arises to leave her home and travel across the country to a boarding house in Washington, she takes it.

To get away from her cruel sisters.

To escape her destiny.

But is it luck or fate’s final joke when she meets a tall, dark and handsome man by the name of Leif Villers?

Their love will challenge time and death itself, but can Leif get Gemma back? Can Gemma truly escape her fate?

**Reflect is the first book in the Reclaim Trilogy within the Shifter Academy Universe written by USA Today Bestselling Authors, Jesse Booth and Joanna Reeder**

The Dictionary of Lost Word by Pip Williams

In 1901, the word ‘Bondmaid’ was discovered missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. This is the story of the girl who stole it.

Esme is born into a world of words. Motherless and irrepressibly curious, she spends her childhood in the ‘Scriptorium’, a garden shed in Oxford where her father and a team of dedicated lexicographers are collecting words for the very first Oxford English Dictionary. Esme’s place is beneath the sorting table, unseen and unheard. One day a slip of paper containing the word ‘bondmaid’ flutters to the floor. Esme rescues the slip and stashes it in an old wooden case that belongs to her friend, Lizzie, a young servant in the big house. Esme begins to collect other words from the Scriptorium that are misplaced, discarded or have been neglected by the dictionary men. They help her make sense of the world.

Over time, Esme realises that some words are considered more important than others, and that words and meanings relating to women’s experiences often go unrecorded. While she dedicates her life to the Oxford English Dictionary, secretly, she begins to collect words for another dictionary: The Dictionary of Lost Words.

Set when the women’s suffrage movement was at its height and the Great War loomed, The Dictionary of Lost Words reveals a lost narrative, hidden between the lines of a history written by men. It’s a delightful, lyrical and deeply thought-provoking celebration of words, and the power of language to shape the world and our experience of it. 

Friends and Strangers by J Courtney Sullivan

An insightful, hilarious, and compulsively readable novel about a complicated friendship between two women who are at two very different stages in life, from the best-selling author of Maine and Saints for All Occasions (named one of the Washington Post‘s Ten Best Books of the Year and a New York Times Critics’ Pick).

Elisabeth, an accomplished journalist and new mother, is struggling to adjust to life in a small town after nearly twenty years in New York City. Alone in the house with her infant son all day (and awake with him much of the night), she feels uneasy, adrift. She neglects her work, losing untold hours to her Brooklyn moms’ Facebook group, her “influencer” sister’s Instagram feed, and text messages with the best friend she never sees anymore.

Enter Sam, a senior at the local women’s college, whom Elisabeth hires to babysit. Sam is struggling to decide between the path she’s always planned on and a romantic entanglement that threatens her ambition. She’s worried about student loan debt and what the future holds. In short order, they grow close. But when Sam finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Elisabeth’s father-in-law, the true differences between the women’s lives become starkly revealed and a betrayal has devastating consequences.

A masterful exploration of motherhood, power dynamics, and privilege in its many forms, Friends and Strangers reveals how a single year can shape the course of a life.

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

‘At first glance they’re magnificent, yet the more she looks, the more she realizes how sinister the mountains appear: raw, jagged spikes. It’s not hard to imagine, she thinks, looking out; this place somehow consuming someone, swallowing them whole.’

An imposing, isolated hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps, is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But she’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when she receives an invitation out of the blue to celebrate her estranged brother’s recent engagement, she has no choice but to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge. Though it’s beautiful, something about the hotel, recently converted from an abandoned sanatorium, makes her nervous – as does her brother, Isaac.

And when they wake the following morning to discover his fiancée Laure has vanished without a trace, Elin’s unease grows. With the storm cutting off access to and from the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

But no-one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she’s the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they’re all in . . .

Book of Yeshua by Francis Chapman

The dual time-line conspiracy thriller that will make you question everything

Did you ever ponder the sheer absurdity of the story told in the New Testament? That humanity’s redemption lay in the execution of God’s only son?’

Elliot Ambrose is one of the few souls on Earth who knows the truth about Yeshua of Nazareth. His determination to expose this truth throws him into conflict with an ancient and powerful foe, who will stop at nothing to protect their secrets. Elliot must undertake a violent journey, and a war started in Judea two thousand years ago culminates in a final battle in the twenty-first century.

This dark, gripping, dual time-line conspiracy thriller will appeal to fans of Dan Brown, S. J Parris, and Raymond Khoury.

Dances & Dreams on Diamond Street by Craig Revel Horwood

An offbeat, funny and heartwarming romantic novel from the fabulous King of Strictly, Craig Revel Horwood.

Set against the colourful boho backdrop of London’s Camden in the 1990s, Craig Revel Horwood’s first novel, Dances and Dreams on Diamond Street, tells the story of an unlikely family of friends who each rent a room in a ramshackle six-bedroom, four-storey townhouse. Like any family, the residents of Diamond Street sometimes fights and often act up but when the chips are down, they’re there for each other in an instant – usually brandishing a cheap bottle of booze, and the offer of an impromptu kitchen disco.

Presided over by the wise-cracking but warm-hearted patriarch of the family, Danny Hall, a professional dancer turned choreographer, the novel follows a year in the life of the inhabitants of Diamond Street, rough diamonds one and all, as they try to achieve their dreams – with unexpected, heart-warming and sometimes hilarious results.

Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day by Captain Sir Tom Moore

Who is Captain Sir Tom Moore? You’ve seen him on the television walking the length of his garden. A frail elderly man, doing his bit at a time of crisis. But he wasn’t always like this.

From a childhood in the foothills of the Yorkshire Dales, Tom Moore grew up in a loving family, which wasn’t without its share of tragedy. It was a time of plenty and of want. When the storm clouds of the Second World War threatened, he raised his hand and, like many of his generation, joined up to fight.

His war would take him from a country he had never left to a place which would steal his heart, India, and the Far East, to which he would return many years later to view the sight he had missed first time around: the distant peak of Everest.

Captain Tom’s story is our story. It is the story of our past hundred years here in Britain. It’s a time which has seen so much change, yet when so much has stayed the same: the national spirit, the can-do attitude, the belief in doing your best for others.

The Diary of Bink Cumming Vol 3 by Bink Cummings

Must read: The Diary of Bink Cummings Vol 1 & 2 previously.

Tests, life is full of them. The world is constantly trying see how much you can take before you break. Before you’re no longer you. Before your world dissolves into nothing. How long you can preserver and overcome the endless obstacles. It’s no secret that Big and I butt heads. It’s no secret that I not only dislike my mother, I hate her, because she hates me. Can these people break me? Can they push me to the edge of insanity, ready to jump? Having moved in with Big, I was living the life I never even knew I wanted. Every day was filled with hope and love. Until it wasn’t. Until it all changed and I was forced to learn what I’m made of. It took a single day for my world to never be the same. One day to change me forever. A day of revelations. Twenty-four hours I’ll never forget…

Steamy Adult romance Warning: Contains Mature scenarios, and mass quantities of profanity. For Ages 18+

-This is not a Stand alone.

Satan’s Fury MC Box Set by L Wilder

From the New York Times and USA Today Best Seller L Wilder comes the complete Satan’s Fury MC series with this limited time offer. The boxed set will only be available through the Thanksgiving Holiday, and then it will be gone forever. Grab yours quick while you can.

Maverick- The sergeant at arms finds his silver lining.

Stitch- With this enforcer, there are no limits to his brutality, no lines drawn in the sand … until Wren.

Cotton- The president of Satan’s Fury gives in to his carnal desires.

Clutch- Sometimes closing one door, opens another.

Smokey- Chance brought them together. Circumstance tore them apart.

Big- Hacker verses hacker in the most intriguing way.

Two Bit- Where she was his weakness, he was her strength.

Diesel- He may look like the boy next door, but if you mess with someone he cares about, he’ll become your worst nightmare.

*The Satan’s Fury MC series continues with the Memphis Chapter. Be sure to check out Blaze, Shadow, and the latest addition, Riggs. All are standalone romances with no cheating and no cliffhanger.

Until next week.

#JustForFun, #Top Ten Tuesday, #TopTenTuesday, #TTT

[kenwebart]

Does anyone play Animal Crossing? What's the name of your island? I love #Leif. He is so cute. #animalcrossingnewhorizons #acnh #animalcrossingfanart • • • • • #digitalfanart #makingart #watercolorillustration #fanart #watercolors #fanartworkartist #athomepainting #watercolor #artislife #illustration #artsy #sketches #stayinginhomeandpainting #stayathomeandpaint #sixcharacters #artlife #brush #sixfanart #sketchoutside #sixfanartchallenge #stayinhomeandsketch #skizze #palette #fanartwork #paletteknife #followmeforart — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2zDlKxf

[2dcloud]

Austin English is a Cartoonist Every Art Lover Should Know

Matthew Thurber selected Austin English as one of 10 Cartoonists Every Art Lover Should Watch on Artsy.

A singular figure whose work seems deftly positioned between the comics and fine art worlds, English should be increasingly noted by both. His drawings are in the grotesque, mannerist figuration that has been a dominant trend in 21st-century drawing-based art (see also: Taylor McKimens, Misaki Kawai, Eddie Martinez, Susan Te Kahurangi King). Yet they are defiantly comics: The images are sequential, and tell (or rather, loosely evoke) stories, with dialogue that reads like the fragmented verse of John Ashbery. (It’s no surprise that English was studied poetry in college.) His characters are “anxious objects” squished onto the page. The fun and tension comes from seeing these accumulations of marks and scribbles somehow cohere into characters.

Comics-as-poetry is an established thing: See the work of Juliacks, Sarah Ferrick, and publishers like Sonatina and 2dcloud. English’s work was influential on this branch of comics-making. Unlike commercial comics—which traditionally convey emotion with simplified facial expression—the muddy, creased faces of English’s characters are opaque. I see a lot of George Grosz, Francis Bacon, and Willem de Kooning when I look at his drawings, which tend to be small and heavily worked with watercolor and colored pencil.

Get Leif Goldberg, Jaakko Pallasvuo, & Juliacks’ new books and Xia Gordon’s new minicomic earlier & cheaper than anyone via Summer 2017 Collection on Kickstarter